Cosmo Lombino is the meme queen with a flashy fashion empire

Before Cosmo, Queen of Melrose makes her way onto our video call, I sit for five minutes and chat with her PR Eugenia. When Eugenia mentions that they skipped Lana Del Rey’s Coachella set and headed to a local branch of Denny’s instead, that’s when Cosmo Lombino floats into view. “Speaking of Lana Del Rey, she’s here!” says the LA store owner, coiffing her blowout and letting out a raspy guffaw. The dazzling entrance rings true with our first introduction to Cosmo: a viral video in a car park outside Madonna’s Celebration Tour. Lombino’s frustrations at the Queen of Pop’s draconian door policy turned into comedy gold (“80 bucks to park the car ten blocks away… I need an oxygen tank and a cigarette at the same time”) and quickly caught the imagination of gay men on social media in search of a new mother.

Another interview with YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly confirmed Lombino’s cult status, and you couldn’t move for memes on Twitter of her puffing on a cigarette and chatting about family mob ties in a signature gravel tone. But despite her newfound status as an internet obsession, it turns out Lombino isn’t just a viral flash-in-the-pan, but owns three stores on LA’s Melrose Avenue, sequined emporiums that have served stars and civilians for the last 35 years.

In the conversation below, we chat to Cosmo about running her flashy fashion empire with business partner Donato Crowley, how she got into the LA fashion game, and the reality TV stations that are knocking at her door.

Hi Cosmo, i’s great to talk to you! To start, what pronouns do you prefer I use?

Cosmo Lombino: You know it doesn’t matter how anybody views me, really. Growing up I was just a gay boy, but now I became, you know, Queen. So just call me Queen.

I first saw you in that video outside the Madonna show – did you expect that would be the one to go viral?

Cosmo Lombino: No, never in a million years. Never. The last three weeks have changed my whole life. First it was the Soft White Underbelly interview, about my sobriety and becoming successful in AA, having three stores and three dogs and two boyfriends and a lover. How you could be sober and still be an outrageous queen like myself. Then cut to the Madonna concert. I literally had to walk so long to park. I was like, ‘what the fuck is going on here?’ This is LA, everything should be valet, valet, valet. I told my business partner Donato ‘put the camera on, I’m feeling the Holy Spirit, honey’. And it just went viral.

@cosmo_queen_of_melrose Being at Madonna’s concert be like #madonna #madonnaconcert #cosmo #queenofmelrose ♬ Vogue (Edit) - Madonna

You mentioned the interview where you’re smoking in the fur poncho. I feel like that was a big part of your allure. You look so chic and regal.

Cosmo Lombino: Oh, thank you! We actually sell those ponchos. Do you want one?

Yeah, I do.

Cosmo Lombino: Fabulous. We’ll get you one. Yeah, [the interview] was a really big part of the draw. I’m getting all kinds of fan mail. ‘I’m trying to stay sober, and I live in Kentucky and you really helped me out.’ The other day, this big drag queen came into the store. She was gorgeous. And she’s like, ‘I have cancer,’ and she started crying. I just hugged her, you know? So it made a big impact, the sobriety thing. I’m sober going on eight years and people want to know how I did it. It’s just giving hope in this world where it’s really crazy right now.

Can you tell me about your fashion empire?

Cosmo Lombino: We have these three amazing stores on Melrose – Cosmo & Donato, Fashion Whore and Cosmo’s Glamsquad. Think Vivienne Westwood, like what she brought to England – the punk rock craze and her boutique – that’s kind of what I brought to Melrose. I’ve been here for many years, that’s why they call me the Queen of Melrose.

We’ve been styling a lot of celebrities, but you can’t live on celebrity alone. We’ve still got to sell the dress to the girl that’s going to prom, or she’s going to Coachella, or going to Burning Man. She hasn’t been showing up the last few years because of the pandemic, so we’re just trying to bring people back to Melrose. Melrose is like the underground shopping world revealed. So basically trying to do all that. The Queen is busy!

“A stylist comes in, I don’t even know who they’re styling, and then when I’m watching the video on TV I’m like, ‘oh my God, that’s my stuff!’” – Cosmo, Queen of Melrose

You mentioned styling celebrities – any others we should know about?

Cosmo Lombino: So it started out with Justin Timberlake and *NSYNC, I did an outfit for them. Then it was Motley Crüe, Nikki Sixx. I did all the 80s and 90s one hit wonders. I did a lot of boy bands, and that’s what got me on the market. Then cut to right now, we’re doing Big Freedia. Erykah Badu is a big one, we love Erykah. She actually buys everything. Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion. A lot of times a stylist comes in, I don’t even know who they’re styling, and then when I’m watching the video on TV I’m like, ‘oh my God, that’s my stuff!’

You’re obviously a big Madonna fan – have you dressed her before?

Cosmo Lombino: My friend Marianna who does the most amazing jewellery, she does Madonna all the time.

Have you met her though?

Cosmo Lombino: I have. I met Madonna in the very, very beginning. She just got signed to a record deal, so she’s in LA with her backup dancers. She comes in [to the store] full of attitude – just attitude, honey! She’s really rude, and I kind of expected that from her because I heard about her. She’s like ‘no autographs! I’m just shopping! No pictures!’ So my best friend was like ‘oh, really?’ and she was really rude to him. So anyway, he took a picture of her and she got really pissed off. She left the store and got into her little Mercedes and made a U-turn, and she got a ticket as she was leaving. Just really rude though, you know what I mean? But I still love her to death. I just went to her concert, she was amazing – I really worship her.

So when did you start your career in fashion?

Cosmo Lombino: Okay, so I’m from New York. New York just started it for me. Growing up in the clubs, and going to the discos, and going to the rock clubs. My mom’s sisters, one was a model, and they were all very fashionable. I grew up literally wearing wigs and high heeled shoes, you know? Then I wind up becoming a hairdresser/makeup artist in New York City, but still fascinated by fashion. I didn’t even go to school for it, I just had a knack for it.

I came out to LA to do hair, but I wind up falling in fashion. So I started styling clothes for not only the rock and roll guys, but the rappers, and also the Hip-hop crowd. I saved my money and opened a boutique on Melrose. That was 30 years ago, and here I am, still here. The store is phenomenal. It’s like a museum.

Do you have other fashion designers who inspire your work?

Cosmo Lombino: I do – and one just left the planet. [Roberto] Cavalli. Very inspiring. Everything he did 30 years ago is so prevalent right now. It’s like every 25 years the trends keep on going back and changing. Cavalli is a big one, then also Gucci, their whole 70s bell bottoms– I lived that whole era, Studio54. Halston was a big one, all his draping and fabrications. Yeah, I pull from a little bit of everybody.

We also have designers in LA that just make stuff for me as well and sell it in here. All the new kids are doing stuff for me, and I get it on a celebrity and they’re just so happy. I feel like Simon Cowell when they come in with clothing. I feel like Paula Abdul judging the outfits. ‘Okay, you can stay, you can stay. You go back to the drawing board, practise some more. You’re going to Hollywood!’

“You’d be surprised what they do for a shirt around here, I’m telling you. Oh my god” – Cosmo, Queen of Melrose

I also saw on your online store that you sell fragrances, and have a perfume called My Cunt. What does My Cunt smell like?

Cosmo Lombino: Would you like to smell Cosmo’s cunt? [Laughs] I wanted it really fruity, fruity, fruity, fruity, fruity and soft. It took me a year to come up with this little potion with my fragrance girl. But it really smells good, and I sold out the first time I had it online.

You recently dressed an artist for Coachella – can you tell me about that?

Cosmo Lombino: He’s called Cimafunk. So the manager came in a few weeks ago and he’s like, ‘you dress my band, I get you tickets to Coachella, VIP’ – see, I still got the wristband – ‘we’ll do a rental and you make some money as well.’ You can’t beat that, money and free Coachella, right? So we went to Coachella, I dressed the band – they were so cute I wanted to undress the band. You’d be surprised what they do for a shirt around here, I’m telling you. Oh my god. In the name of fashion! I’d have to do it!

So anyway, we went to Coachella, and when they were performing they come get me backstage, and they put me up front to start dancing. Here I am on the main stage of Coachella fucking twerking for everybody. I was like, ‘oh my God, pinch me, this is my life right now.’ It was amazing. I had the best time, but then wind up going to the paramedic tent. You see, I have a little cough because I smoke cigarettes. So I’m dancing, having a great time, and all of a sudden she starts turning purple. So I tried to gracefully get off the stage at Coachella then basically end up at the paramedic. The queen needed some oxygen, darling.

What’s next for the Cosmo and Donato empire?

Cosmo Lombino: Basically keep the doors open at the store, that’s for sure. Getting more people to Melrose. That’s my goal right now, you know? And then I have appointments with a few television networks. They want to do a show, kind of like a Queer Eye. That’s all in the works right now. So I’m really excited. That’s what’s going on right now in the future – just getting it together and sharing Cosmo with the world.